Matthew 13:7
Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
English Standard Version (ESV)
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Matthew 13:7
Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
English Standard Version (ESV)
This page isn't yet indexed by search engines.
It's easy to think the thorns were already there, but the text implies they weren't fully visible until after the seed was sown. These are often latent roots, ready to spring up and compete for life-giving resources, just as worldly distractions can quietly strangle spiritual growth when we aren't vigilant.
Jesus is explaining the parable of the sower, revealing the meaning behind the different types of soil where seeds fell. This particular seed represents people who hear God's message but get entangled with the worries and desires of this world. Their spiritual growth is ultimately stifled, just as thorns can crowd out and kill young crops in a field.
The seed falls, the thorns rise. How can something unseen become such a powerful obstacle?
In this parable, the 'thorns' weren't necessarily large, visible bushes at the time of sowing. Instead, they represented the roots of weeds and thorny plants that were still beneath the surface, or perhaps small and unassuming.
As the good seed began to grow, so did these hidden roots. They didn't just compete for nutrients and water; they actively 'choked' the life out of the young plants. This illustrates how subtle, seemingly minor issues in our lives can grow and eventually overwhelm our spiritual growth if not dealt with.
Sometimes, good intentions and spiritual potential get crowded out. What causes this suffocating competition?
The thorns in this parable didn't just coexist with the seed; they actively worked to destroy it. They competed for the essential resources of the soil – the water, the nutrients, the sunlight.
Spiritually, this represents how the cares, riches, and pleasures of this life can crowd out our devotion to God. They don't always feel overtly sinful, but they demand our attention, energy, and loyalty, leaving little room for the things of the Spirit to flourish.
This parable shows a spiritual battleground where growth is not guaranteed, but fiercely contested.
The thorny ground scenario is a stark reminder that hearing and even receiving the Word of God isn't the end of the story. There's an ongoing battle for our spiritual development.
Unlike the seed on the hard path (rejected) or the rocky ground (short-lived), this seed starts well but is ultimately defeated by its environment. It highlights that our spiritual lives require constant vigilance and actively 'dealing with' the things that threaten to choke our faith. True fruitfulness requires nurturing the good and diligently removing the bad.
Understand the original words
akantha · Greek Noun
Often symbolic of the cares, riches, and pleasures of the world that distract the heart from the truth of the Gospel. They represent spiritual competition that eventually stifles the development of faith.
apnigō · Greek Verb
To prevent growth or life; used to describe how worldly concerns, anxieties, or sinful patterns gain control and effectively kill the fruit-bearing potential of the Gospel in a person's life.
This passage uses similar agricultural imagery, describing land that produces thorns and briers as being useless and cursed, mirroring the idea of good seed being choked out by unwanted growth.
Mark 4:18-19This parallel account in Mark explains the meaning of the thorny ground in the parable, explicitly linking the thorns to the worries of life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things that choke the word.
1 Timothy 6:9-10This passage warns against the 'love of money' and 'desire for other things' that lead people astray, which directly aligns with the 'thorns' that choke out spiritual growth described in Matthew 13.
Galatians 5:16-17The apostle Paul contrasts the desires of the flesh, which lead to destructive outcomes, with the fruit of the Spirit, echoing the theme of competing growths in the soil of one's heart.
barnesMatthew 13:7: "And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:"
Among thorns - That is, in a part of the field where the thorns and shrubs had been imperfectly cleared away and not destroyed. They grew with the grain, crowded it, shaded it, exhausted the earth, and thus choked it.
vincentMatthew 13:7: "And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:"
Sprang upThe seed, therefore, fell, not among standing thorns, but among those beneath the surface, ready to spring up.Trench ("Parables") cites a striking parallel from Ovid, describing the obstacles to the growth of the grain:"Now the too ardent sun, vow furious showers,With baleful stars and bitter winds combineThe crop to ravage; while the greedy fowlSnatch the strewn seeds; and grass with stubborn roots,…
It's easy to think the thorns were already there, but the text implies they weren't fully visible until after the seed was sown. These are often latent roots, ready to spring up and compete for life-giving resources, just as worldly distractions can quietly strangle spiritual growth when we aren't vigilant.
Jesus is explaining the parable of the sower, revealing the meaning behind the different types of soil where seeds fell. This particular seed represents people who hear God's message but get entangled with the worries and desires of this world. Their spiritual growth is ultimately stifled, just as thorns can crowd out and kill young crops in a field.
Jesus is explaining the parable of the sower, revealing the meaning behind the different types of soil where seeds fell. This particular seed represents people who hear God's message but get entangled with the worries and desires of this world. Their spiritual growth is ultimately stifled, just as thorns can crowd out and kill young crops in a field.
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"Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them." — It's easy to think the thorns were already there, but the text implies they weren't fully visible until after the seed was sown. These are often latent roots, ready to spring up and compete for life-…